Could We Have Done More? Unfortunately, Probably
by Avery42
Summary: Astra has been through a lot, and may have made some mistakes along the way. After the battle is done, she reflects on whether she could have acted differently. Sequel to "With the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X" and "In Which Kara Ponders the Ethics of Universal Empathy" ResistanceGeneral!Astra Oneshot.


Note, this is a sequel to "With the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X" and "In Which Kara Ponders the Ethics of Universal Empathy," so if your a bit confused you should go read those first. (You only really need to read the first one, if you want.)

* * *

Astra watched as her niece gave hugs abound - the first to her human sister, and then to the various heroes they'd brought with them - a smile began creeping on her. Kara had an energy she hadn't seen in years. Her eyes bright and kind, no machinations forming behind them.

Stilling her face, she turned away. She wasn't her Kara. She'd died less than an hour past (though it could be argued that she'd died long ago, shortly after they'd landed on this forsaken planet) in a ball of fire. Astra thought she'd taught her better - that control and domination weren't goals, but a means to an end - however it seems that such was for naught.

Her eyes caught another's. It was the red-headed human. Alex, she believed her name was. They held each other's gaze for a few moments, looking for… Something. Anything, even. When they broke away, Astra was confident neither of them had found it.

It wasn't hard to discern that Alex had been familiar with her Earth-38 counterpart, and that said counterpart was dead, likely in a manner that the Agent was intimately familiar with. She tried to stay away from more speculation then that. Wondering about what could have happened, who Kara was, if any more family survived - things that are impossible to change - was a pointless distraction from making things better now.

Normally she was quite skilled in suppressing idle thoughts, but Alex's words nagged at her. It had been years since anyone had challenged her like that. Leo came close often enough, but still only toed the line, never pushing her to make real changes, just adjustments and optimizations that inner councils exist to suggest. However, the brave one made her think.

Could she have done more? Probably. It's hard to look back and find something one couldn't have done better, though how much of that had been to decisions on her part, and how much correctable only with hindsight was up for debate.

It would have been simple to activate Myriad earlier, but that would have meant limited range, more direct conflict, and more lives lost, the antithesis of why she created the device in the first place. Perhaps it would have balanced out in the end, as more of the world was freed from the control of the Reich, but it's hard to tell.

Storming the capital was an idea. It had been brought up, both as a plan on its own and adjunct to other military strategies. It was unlikely that a coup would have been successful, but giving the resistance Berlin would have been a potent symbol. It'd been shot down as too costly and holding the city would have been impossible - they had no real reinforcement, and many of the non-Kryptonian prisons had joined their enemies.

Something else? She could have found Kara and Kal-El, deprived them of their two greatest weapons and protected her family in one blow, but that would have required knowing they were on earth before it was too late. Perhaps she could have doubled down on her efforts to capture them, or activated the Kryptonian version of Myriad - bring them back over. Or maybe they should have focused on contacting the Green Martians, gotten them to help.

There was a not insignificant number of changes that Astra could have made, and in seeing her niece, or a version of her at least, happy and kind, it was difficult to ignore the web of possibilities.

Still, she had wasted enough time. It was best to start planning for their next move. With both the Führer and General dead, it would be the best time to move against the New Reich - catch them before they knew anything was wrong, activating dormant resistant cells around the globe in open revolt, and watch them scramble as they realized their top leadership was gone without easy ability to appoint a new one. It was time to go back. As much as she could of use in clean up, it was more important for her to get home.

She snorted, wondering how she could consider such a hellscape her home, and whether or not she'd meant a dying Krypton or Earth-X.

"Something funny?"

Astra blinked as a mess of red and blue appear in her vision, the crest of the house of El standing proudly on her chest. "Ah, not particularly."

Kara nodded. "Fair enough."

They stood in silence, unsure what to say. The younger Kryptonian shifted on her feet, hands dancing by her sides, while she herself remained frozen, her only movement the rise and fall of her chest.

"So, um..."

"So?"

Her not-niece took a fortifying breath. "I- Well- I hadn't expected to see you. I know you're not her, but…"

Astra offered a sad smile before looking up to the empty sky. "No. I understand. It's… You're very much like her yourself, but you're not it so many other ways. It's difficult to reconcile."

She hummed in agreement. "It's similar with you. There's a lot I didn't get to say, and seeing you brings all that back, but you're not the one to hear it. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss. We've both lost too much family to not hurt over watching the last of it fall away, evil or no."

"I- Thank you. I realize it may have been some time ago for you, but you have my sympathies as well, and I hope your relationship was less… Adversarial then my own."

"It… Was and it wasn't in a lot of ways. But… Well, relationships are complicated."

The general chuckled. "That it is."

The silence was more comfortable this time, though Kara still fidgeted quite a bit.

"I should be leaving soon. We'll have to move quickly if we're to take advantage of the Führer's death."

In a blink, Astra found herself being hugged. "I'm glad that you're…" Kara frowned (pouted really, like she'd do as a child), wrapping her arms a bit tighter. "You seem, not necessarily happier, but more complete. Like you've had time to heal. Stay safe. Please." And she was gone, flying off to help with clean up.

"I'll try, little one."


End file.
